In pastoral ministry, we can easily overemphasize confidence, charisma, and skill. And if this is true in pastoral ministry, it’s all the more true in church planting. As we train and assess planters, it’s easy for us to place an unhealthy emphasis on a person’s “competence.”
Let’s be clear: These things aren’t meaningless. They have value. But Christian maturity—that is, growing in Christlikeness—is infinitely more valuable than how much you know or how impressive your skill set. It is ultimately about being rooted and established in Jesus. As we plant and lead churches, then, we must be men marked by maturity. After all, we can’t lead others into maturity in Christ if we ourselves aren’t maturing in Christ. So how do we do this in church planting?
Today, I’m excited to have Jeff Medders with me on the podcast to discuss these things.
Listen to this episode of Churches Planting Churches.
Related:
Free eBook by Tim Keller: ‘The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness’
Imagine a life where you don’t feel inadequate, easily offended, desperate to prove yourself, or endlessly preoccupied with how you look to others. Imagine relishing, not resenting, the success of others. Living this way isn’t far-fetched. It’s actually guaranteed to believers, as they learn to receive God’s approval, rather than striving to earn it.
In Tim Keller’s short ebook, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path To True Christian Joy, he explains how to overcome the toxic tendencies of our age一not by diluting biblical truth or denying our differences一but by rooting our identity in Christ.
TGC is offering this Keller resource for free, so you can discover the “blessed rest” that only self-forgetfulness brings.
